BACKWARD GLANCES - Russian spy sighted at library

Thursday

Jul 5, 2012 at 12:01 AMJul 5, 2012 at 4:12 AM

See what was happening in Redwood Falls 50, 25, and 10 years ago this week.

Joshua Dixon, Staff Writer

1962—50 years ago
• The city rec department set its schedule for baton twirling classes from ages four through 11-and-up.
• The days when draft horses were used for farming and hauling wagons officially ended in Redwood County when harness maker Chris Schulte decided to close his E. 2nd St. shop after 56 years in business.
• Construction crews continued on the project to get natural gas pipelines available for use in Redwood Falls by Oct., 1963.
• John Miller of Minneapolis won the Redwood Falls Golf Club’s invitational in his first time competing. His score: two-over-par 107 for 27 holes.
• At approximately 6:35 p.m. on July 10, 1962, Redwood Falls TV viewers got to watch tests for television pictures bounced off the Telstar communications satellite launched earlier that day. The test pictures were broadcast on all three television networks simultaneously.
1987—25 years ago
• A local group, Citizens United for a Better Educational System (CUBES) recommended the Redwood school district start a separate middle school for kids in grades six, seven, and eight.
• Foreign exchange student Rosa Maria Lopez Jorrin of Madrid Spain, who attended RFHS in 1967-68, attended the class’s 20th reunion.
• Six teenage boys, who dubbed themselves “The Suicide Skaters” lobbied the city council to build a skateboard park either in Ramsey Park, or by the public swimming pool.
• The Redwood Falls Morton High School Jazz Band performed at the dedication of the new Lions Club band shell next to Lake Redwood.
• The city passed a new ordinance making it illegal to feed animals at the Ramsey Park zoo after the city’s insurance company expressed fears of having to deal with potential injury claims.
• After 50 years, the RFHS class of 1937 held its first-ever reunion.
2002—10 years ago
• Sharon Hollatz retired as Executive Director of the Girl Scout Peacepipe Council after 25 years with the organization.
• To celebrate slow days at work, flight paramedic Cindy McAlpin would wander over to the pasture next to North Air Care to feed carrots to the horses.
• Every child who brought a pet to the library’s pet show walked away with an award, even of some of the categories had to me made up on the spot. Some of the categories: “Littlest, greenest, and most cold-blooded,” and “Best resembling a Russian spy.”
• The old Morton high school building, one of three schools still licenced to operate a coal furnace, finally made the switch to natural gas.
• On a trip to Alaska, Pat Schoffman of Redwood Falls spent 45 minutes fighting a 64-pound King Salmon out of the Kenei River.
Schoffman and his friends were so excited weighing the fish once they got it ashore they didn’t notice their boat floating away down the river.